Sound of the Day: THE FUCKIN' FLYIN' A-HEADS

One of the heaviest guitar bands of all time only made one record, and it's a 7-inch single released in 1980. It's a good thing they didn't put out a full-length, because anything longer might have torn a hole in the universe. Even though I love it, I'm not sure I could listen to 15 or more minutes of it at a time. The band was from Hawaii, they were called The Fuckin' Flyin' A-Heads, and their sound emitted a serious dark power from deep inside, with the added tension of them not seeming to care or even know... which means it could get worse at any moment. Even on the punk rock surface it's a pretty mean record, with a mad profane Hawaiian dude named Eric "Sep" Ishii snarling "I've got a SWISS CHEESE BACK" while his bandmate Howard Nishioka plays seemingly constant torrents of ludicrous metallic noise guitar. Side two "Watching TV" is even more profane and nihilistic, and it's faster too. Come to think of it, I would love it if "Watching TV" went on for 15 or more minutes. This band, however briefly, and even with their depraved lyrical content, is one of the few that has approached the unreachable sonic nebula of Les Rallizes Denudes. "We tried to have punk attitude, jazz abilities, blues' soul, acid-rock's freedom, and bohemian sensibilities. I still believe in it, I hope others do too." --Howard Nishioka

The 7-inch has been reissued exact repro style by De Stijl Records. Buy it here, and while you're there, read some great reminiscing about the band from Howard Nishioka and Eric "Sep" Ishii.

Tony Rettman interviewed the A-Heads drummer Dan Garrett for Viceland. In the intro, Tony describes an experience with the single a lot like the one I had: "Was this at the right speed? What kinda drugs were these guys on? This single made Flipper sound like Uriah Heep. I pondered more and more on it as I spun it ad infinitum."

SIDEBAR: Just before he embarked on the heavily psychedelic/industrial/punk/improvisational "fun piece of terroristic art" that was the Fuckin' Flyin' A-Heads, Howard Nishioka recorded and self-released an LP of cracked and funky Pacific Island electric folk & blues called Street Songs. Read about it and listen to it here and here... it's a fine companion to the FFA single... not anywhere near as outwardly heavy, but damn near as weird!